Witness firm on time line of bugs: Westerfield already under surveillance. Other perp possible?

Union Trib ^ | July 23, 2002 | Alex Roth

[Jrabbit]

I think the testimony from the courtroom had alot to do with the visciousness of yesterdays thread.

[FresnoDA]

Second bug expert testifies as Westerfield trial continues

KIMBERLY EPLER
Staff Writer

SAN DIEGO ---- A forensic entomologist testified Monday that insect activity shows the body of 7-year-old murder victim Danielle van Dam was dumped along a rural road two to three weeks after she disappeared from her Sabre Springs home, a time when her accused killer was under 24-hour police surveillance.

Bug expert Neal Haskell was the second entomologist called by defense attorneys to try to show that David Westerfield, 50, could not have disposed of the second-grader, who he is accused of killing to satisfy his sexual desire for young girls.

Day 20 of Westerfield's highly publicized trial centered on the life cycle of blow flies, with Haskell spending nearly all day on the stand testifying about his conclusion that Danielle was killed shortly before flies began "colonizing" her nude body.

Forensic entomologists use the well-known life cycle of blow flies to narrow down the time of death in murder cases.

The metallic-colored flies can lay eggs within minutes of finding a dead body. When the eggs hatch, the larva feed on the flesh. After a time, the larva migrate away from the body to find a dark, secure place to enter the pupa stage. After developing a hard shell, an adult fly emerges, reaches sexual maturity in three days and the cycle begins again.

Westerfield's attorney, Steven Feldman, told jurors on the first day of the trial that science would come to his client's rescue and show it was impossible for Westerfield to have been the one who left Danielle's body where it was found.

A lead detective in the case testified earlier that within three days of Danielle's Feb. 2 disappearance, police were keeping a tight watch on Westerfield day and night. A tracing device was also placed in Westerfield's car, the detective said.

Prosecutor Jeff Dusek, meanwhile, challenged Haskell's conclusion about when Danielle's body was first exposed to the elements and sometimes took on an adversarial tone with the witness during questioning.

At times, Dusek raised his voice while repeatedly questioning whether Danielle's body could have decomposed to the state in which she was found ---- with her hands, feet and face blackened and mummified ---- in Haskell's one-to-two-week timeline. Haskell said it could.

Dusek also raised questions about what condition Danielle's body would be in if it were left in the storage compartment of a motor home out in the desert for 24 to 36 hours before it was dumped in Dehesa. Haskell said such a scenario could have kept her body from being "colonized" by insects, but it also would have accelerated her decomposition and made her more attractive to blow flies.

Haskell dismissed Dusek's query about the possibility a coyote ate the first round of fly larva laid on Danielle's body, making it appear as though her body was exposed to the elements weeks after it was dumped and throwing off the timeline for how long flies had been able to access her body.

The prosecutor also seemed to be raising the possibility that Danielle's body was at some point covered with a blanket that might have been removed by animals that ravaged her body. Haskell said the flies still would have been able to get to her body.

Haskell said he based his conclusions on the condition of Danielle's body and he said he used temperatures in the region to determine how fast the insects would have grown.

Testimony in the case is scheduled to continue on Wednesday. Attorneys in the case are meeting with the judge to discuss scheduling and other issues today.

Contact staff writer Kimberly Epler at (760) 739-6674 or kepler@nctimes.com.

7/23/02

[spectre]

Tick..tock..here we go! Live

[FresnoDA]

BAD DUSEK....BAD!!!

Mon Jul 22, 8:20 PM ET

Judge William D. Mudd admonished prosecutor Jeff Dusek and witness Neal Haskell during proceedings in the murder trial of David Westerfield, Monday, July 22, 2002, at the San Diego courthouse. Westerfield is accused of the kidnapping and murder of 7-year old Danielle van Dam. The judge warned jurors to ignore last week's slaying of a girl in nearby Orange County. (AP Photo/Dan Trevan, POOL)

[spectre]

Feldman is still trying to line up rebuttal witnesses.

Dusek asks what "is he (Feldman) meaning to communicate?"

Judge, "how much of Wednesday, now into Thursday" is rebuttal.

Not in posture to discuss Jury instructions untill sometime next week.

Probably by Friday.

[FresnoDA]

The Inside Track: Week Five In The Van Dam Murder Trial

Our Legal Expert Gives You An Insider's View

Manny Medrano, General Assignment Reporter

 Week Five

  There were only two days of trial this week because of the July 4 holiday weekend. This week the prosecution rested, subject to calling one additional witness. The defense began with a flurry of witnesses intended to challenge the DA's strong circumstantial case.

Forget Everything You've Seen On Television - This Is The Real World
We've all grown up with TV dramas such as "Perry Mason," "LA Law," "Law and Order" and similar fare where prosecutors investigate, indict, try, convict and sentence a murder suspect all conveniently in the space of an hour and with time, of course, for commercial breaks. This may make for entertaining television, but it has little relevance to how criminal trials proceed in the real world. Although common for television dramas, in my 22 years as a former-prosecutor-turned-news-reporter I have never seen the following in a courtroom: a defendant breaking down on the stand in tears and confessing to a crime; or a prosecution witness, after grueling cross-examination by a defense lawyer, doing the same.

A murder trial is a marathon, with the prosecutor working to show guilt beyond a reasonable doubt by building a wall - brick by brick - of strong circumstantial evidence against David Westerfield. Deputy Distict Attorney's Jeff Dusek and Woody Clarke believe they have done that. Now it's up to defense attorney Steve Feldman to start chipping away at that wall, in piecemeal fashion, and raise a question of reasonable doubt with at least one juror, as the prosecution must garner a unanimous vote. With the commencement of the defense case this week Feldman made some progress.

"There Are Two Sides To Every Story"
The jury has heard that Danielle van Dam's blood, fingerprints and hair were found by investigators in Westerfield's motor home. This proves, according to prosecutors, that the defendant transported the victim in his motor home, dead or alive, after kidnapping her. Not so fast, says Steve Feldman. He called to the stand Westerfield's neighbors to show that perhaps the seven-year-old was unsupervised and inadvertently wandered into Westerfield's recreational vehicle, leaving hair and fingerprints behind. Mark Roehr told the jury that Westerfield left his motor home unlocked at least once. Roehr's wife testified that just two weeks ago she saw the van Dam-s six-year-old son unsupervised on his front lawn attempting to retrieve a ball across the street.

Investigators testified that when they searched Westerfield's home, they found it immaculate and orderly, except for a hose that was thrown carelessly in the front yard. Prosecutor Jeff Dusek claims this shows that the night of the kidnapping February 1 the defendant hastily prepared his motor home to depart with the victim. However, Feldman called to the stand Westerfield's next door neighbor, Paul Hung, who testified that it was not unusual for the hose to be casually tossed on the front yard.

The biggest points scored this week by the defense occurred when attorney Robert Boyce cross-examined James Frazee, who claims his dog alerted to a cadaver scent around Westerfield's motor home. This potentially devastating testimony lost some of its punch when Frazee admitted sending an e-mail to the dog's breeder. In the e-mail Frazee said he wasn't sure the dog had given a cadaver alert. "I thought he might have been doing these behaviors just to please me."

Will David Westerfield Take The Stand?
No. And if defense attorney Steven Feldman encourages Westerfield to testify, he should be fired. Here's why. In a lengthy interview with police after Danielle's disappearance, Westerfield claims he went on a meandering 600 mile trip in his motor home that took him to a beach campground, to the desert, then back home to Sabre Springs. Prosecutors have called witnesses to show innumerable inconsistencies and contradictions in the defendant's story. If Westerfield takes the stand in his own defense, you can expect a cross-examination bloodbath by prosecutor Dusek as he questions the 50-year-old design engineer about his whereabouts the weekend Danielle disappeared. And Westerfield will also have to explain why, if he's not a pedophile as prosecutors claim, did he have child pornography on his home computer? Tough questions. Questions that I don't think David Westerfield can adeptly handle.

[Krodg]

No ping needed, I found you anyway.

[spectre]

CTV takes appropriate break at appropriate time. I will be glad for this trial to be over and never watch these idiots again.

Guess Barb Easton isn't going to be called. Denise should have shut her mouth too, she'd still have a job...a small victory for DW :~)

sw

[L,TOWM]

Then let's let others do the same. Or let them all light their torches and storm SD County Jail to lynch the Stealth Ninja themselves on their own thread...

[spectre]

Defense gets list of Rebuttal witnesses. Hummmm.

Feldman is saying he needs to present profers to the court on evidentuary matters.

sw

[spectre]

Judge Mudd closes the court to Media and Public. Feldman wants to argue about the Rebuttal witnesses...so says CTV.

sw

[Krodg]

I had no intention of inviting anyone to this thread. I was only teasing Fres.

[FresnoDA]

Why is The Barb not being called...doesn't make sense...

[demsux]

Hiding, huh...just for that i will ping travis mcgee...just kinding

[Rheo]

I posted the hearing of this morning on the other thread.

[spectre]

Basscleff, haven't you been listening to CTV? It doesn't matter what the bug experts say, it only matters that there is a mountain of evidence, tons of it, and fibers and all that blood and porno...To hell with the witnesses...To hell with the trial. One more witness? They could have a dozen, but it won't do anygood.

The Jury is tainted..if they have been listening to CTV, even if they wanted to, they wouldn't dare acquit DW. Can you imagine what they would face? So sad..so true.

If Barb Easton does not testify, it means that she probably had a nervous breakdown.

CTV and Nancy bubble-head, keep throwing out the bait they want DW to "take the stand"...They want him to go down.

Nancy bimbo has been on DW's case all morning, saying he shows NO EMOTION, that a little girl is dead, and he sits there "stoic"...a cold blooded man.

I will REMIND the CTV Vampire, Nancy Graceless, that when Westerfield laughed in a very funny moment at the trial, SHE came down on him like a ton of bricks. "HOW DARE HE LAUGH!" she screamed.

The poor guy can't win for losing.

End of rant. sw

sw

[Krodg]

Incoming

[Freedom2specul8]

New thread Ping for Justice..